SUNNY days in Scotland usually peter out before I've found the corkscrew but I decided to tempt fate and dust off the Pimm’s last weekend, which led to the Queen’s most difficult choice – Pimm’s or gin.
I’m sure everyone has their own Pimm’s recipe. Some like fruit, others prefer herbs. Either is cool with me. I am partial to cucumber, sliced long and thin into ribbons using a potato peeler, just like I would have in my Hendrick’s. It takes a little extra time but it’s worth it. After lovingly slicing cucumber, cutting grapefruit and limes, I carried a well-stocked tray to the garden to lavish my wife with the kind of drink she deserves. “Oh”, she says, “I forgot to tell you. Your results are in”. Panic set in. I thought a huge medical issue had slipped my mind. It turned out it was nothing sinister – just a food allergy test I didn’t realise I had taken, because she'd cut a snippet of hair from my head while I was sleeping. As I said, nothing sinister…
Apparently I’m allergic to cucumber, shattering future gin and Pimm’s related activities. Thankfully I'd grabbed a bottle of Harris Gin on my last tweed pilgrimage to Harris. Staring at all that sliced grapefruit and lime, I knew it was the perfect combo to what is truly Scotland’s most unique gin. I can make that claim as at The Finnieston Bar and Restaurant we have 60 gins and I’ve worked through them all, for research of course.
As I began to drink it with few drops of the sugar kelp water, I realised I had surpassed the Queen and was now drinking what was the Queen Mum’s favourite; gin mixed with gin
Graham Suttle is the managing director of Kained Holdings which has nine venues including The Finnieston and Porter & Rye in Glasgow
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